Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Severe Weather Damage

Today about 3 p.m., my father-in-law told Steve we were expecting one of the worst storm systems we'd ever seen in this area. So Steve and I quickly went to the new house to put away anything that could go flying.

Winds started picking up and the sky darkened like night. It started sprinkling and we decided to go ahead and go to the barn early. We stopped at the house to pick up the girls and as we got back into the truck, "the bottom fell out" as the old folks say.

Back yard after the rain started "slacking up"

We tried to get to the barn, but had to turn back. It was raining so hard we couldn't see the front of the truck and we were continually pelted with large flying limbs.

Front yard - otherwise known as the "new front pond"

We turned around and went to check our new house. All seemed okay, but the road was covered with water - something we've never seen before.

The new house across the street, however, had it's front doors banging. Steve ran to try to secure them, but was unable.

This photo was OBVIOUSLY not taken today

He said the house was flooded with water. We tried calling the owner, but couldn't reach him. His porta-potty was about 30 feet from where it usually stands as well. (Ours was tipped over, but had obviously not gone flying as did his.)

When we arrived back at home, we discovered that two enormous trees had fallen on my mother-in-law's carport.

Thankfully the damage was minimal and no one was hurt.

But, boy, it left a mess.

One of the limbs landed right where Joshua usually parks his car. Thankfully he was not home at the time.

We lost power right after the storm began and it was not restored until about 4:30 a.m. Thursday morning. Much of the parish is still without power and there is no power at the barn.

We are expecting more storms to move through later this afternoon, so Steve and the girls have gone to pick up feed and take care of the horses before it starts raining again.